BASEBALL

BASEBALL; For the Yanks, Only Shea Will Be Familiar

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: June 20, 2003

The uniforms will say Mets, the mascot with the baseball head will roam the stands and the giant red apple will sit in its center-field top hat. The Yankees will know they are playing the Mets tonight, but the other typical Shea Stadium reminders -- the players -- will not help them identify their opponent.

More than half the players on the Mets' active roster have never faced the Yankees in an interleague series. Mike Piazza and Mo Vaughn are among the injured. José Reyes, Ty Wigginton and Jason Phillips are among the newcomers. Art Howe has replaced Bobby Valentine as the Mets' manager.

''It's more of a mystery, sure,'' Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. ''You never know with young players. You can get all the scouting reports you want, but it's really first-hand information you rely on more than anything else.''

The Mets and Yankees have 30 games of first-hand regular-season knowledge to go on, in addition to five memorable World Series games in 2000. The teams have played 10 regular-season interleague series -- one in 1997 and 1998 and two each season since -- and no team has swept a three-game set. The Yankees have won eight series, and the Mets two, giving the Yankees the overall edge, 18-12.

That is the only way George Steinbrenner would have it. Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, places a special emphasis on beating the Mets. When the Mets trounced the Yankees in the Bronx last June -- their only victory of that series -- Steinbrenner's response was swift. Torre had used infielder Enrique Wilson in right field for the game, and Wilson misplayed a ball. Steinbrenner demanded changes, and two games later, the Yankees traded for Raul Mondesi to play right.

''Seeing it from both sides, there tends to be more pressure to win on the Yankee side, because you're expected to win,'' said the Yankees' reserve Todd Zeile, who played for the Mets in 2000-01. ''Especially given some of the things that have occurred with the Mets in the past year, I think they come into the weekend as the underdogs with nothing to lose and a lot to gain from a successful series.''

The Mets, who lost to the Marlins, 5-1, last night, have played better lately, but so have the Yankees, who are clearly the better team. With the atmosphere in the stands, the Yankees know what kind of games to expect.

''We've always had close games with the Mets,'' shortstop Derek Jeter said yesterday, after the Yankees' home game with Tampa Bay was rained out. ''Any time there's an atmosphere like that, it brings out the best in players. I would anticipate the same thing.''

In the first game between the teams last season, Robin Ventura homered in the 10th inning to give the Yankees a 4-2 victory. Ventura had been traded by the Mets the previous winter, and he said he did not take special joy in beating his old team. His Yankee teammates took care of that for him.

''They enjoyed it more than I did,'' Ventura said. ''You have people that you know and like over there. To be vengeful against them is wrong. There are still people in there you like.''

Ventura said he now follows individual Mets players more than the team itself. He checks box scores to track the progress of Vance Wilson and Joe McEwing, among others, but the more the Mets change, the fewer ties Ventura has.

During the two interleague series last season, Ventura never spoke with Steve Phillips, who has since been fired as the Mets' general manager, and he said there was no reason to. The way Ventura sees it, when the Mets traded him to the Yankees for David Justice in December 2001, they were making him -- and Zeile, who was later dealt to Colorado -- the scapegoats for a disappointing season.

After reaching the World Series in 2000, the Mets struggled for most of the 2001 season before surging to finish 82-80. That off-season, Phillips remade the team, starting with the Ventura deal. The moves ended up saddling the Mets with aging, injury-prone, underachieving players, and ultimately cost Phillips his job.

Trading Ventura allowed the Mets to shift Edgardo Alfonzo to third and acquire Roberto Alomar for second base. Alomar has been a major disappointment. Zeile had one year left on his contract, and Phillips replaced him at first with Vaughn, who makes more money and had three years remaining on his contract.

''Obviously, Todd and I got the rap of costing them the year,'' Ventura said. ''It happened to me in Chicago. For me, I can take the hits. That's just part of playing.''

Zeile said that of all the teams he has played for, that Mets team was the only one that did not feel overmatched against the Yankees. When the Mets broke up part of the core of that team, Zeile said, they lost a valuable edge.

''A lot of times, G.M.'s have gotten into the game of changing names, but things that look good on paper don't necessarily connect well and work well on the field,'' Zeile said. ''Certainly, by all accounts, in 2002, there was a buzz of excitement with the new face of the Mets, and all the different things you could point to suggested that there were improvements made.''

But in the end, Zeile said, last year's Mets ''just seemed to lack the same intangible spirit that the team before had.''

Now the Yankees face yet another version of the Mets, with some old stars and a lot of young players. The charged atmosphere, it seems, will be the only thing unchanged.

Photo: In the first game between the teams last season, Robin Ventura hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to help beat the Mets, his former team. (Reuters)(pg. D3)